When an American Nazi group wanted to march in Skokie, Illinois, in 1977, residents reacted with vigor to keep the fascists off their streets. The American Civil Liberties Union ended up defending the Nazis – successfully — despite heavy Jewish involvement in and support for the ACLU. That defining moment in America's civil liberties history highlighted the need to be consistent in the defense of the rights of all in our country — even those whose views we may find abhorrent.

Now, gay and feminist voices, with others, are rising in opposition to president-elect Barack Obama's choice of the Reverend Rick Warren to say the invocation at the January inaugural.

The gay community, which (in some cases reluctantly) supported Obama after Hillary Clinton's presidential bid failed, has expressed particularly strong outrage about the selection of Warren, based on the Southern Baptist's vehement opposition to gay marriage. Pro-choice women oppose Warren for his anti-abortion stand.

Presidents consistently welcome the pope into their circle. Beloved liberal hero and martyr John Kennedy had John Cardinal Cushing at his inaugural. The current pope and Cushing represent the dinosaurs of the curia, opposed not only to abortion and to gay rights, but contraception, homosexuality, gender equity, and even divorce.

If Obama had asked the pope to come to Washington to pray over him and the nation in January, would there be similar outrage? I doubt it.

The lesson of the Warren debate is that many Americans rightfully fear the undue influence that the extreme religious right has had, and may continue to have, over government officials. Meanwhile, mainstream religious sects often get away with holding similar beliefs (and exerting similar influence) with less public challenge.

Religious tyranny comes in many forms and from many quarters. If we oppose the messages of sexism, bigotry, and especially hypocrisy, we must always oppose them, even if it means offending the pope or the top rabbi or imam.

Evangelicals are easier targets because they belong to a looser knit group, and because they sometimes have the disadvantage of ordaining ministers whose vocation, and understanding of, and commitment to religious teachings are questionable.

But evangelicals still have a long way to go to match the numbers of those put into bondage, tortured, and even killed by crusaders and religious fanatics from so-called "organized religions." They also often share the same offensive beliefs that their "organized" colleagues have been preaching for centuries.

So if we insist on being angry with those who misinterpret or misconstrue our vision of a loving God's mandate, we ought to be angry more often — and we ought to express our disapproval more consistently. Until then, all offenders must have equal rights.

Freedom's Foot Soldier No one has labored with more love and assiduity to keep those liberties established by John Adams secure than John Reinstein, who has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as the top lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

Speak no evil? Anthony Lewis's free-speech credentials are impeccable: among other things, the former New York Times columnist is James Madison Visiting Professor of First Amendment Issues at Columbia University's Journalism School

Comics for Christ Young Laurel Templeton spends her summer vacation “kidnapped by five cyborg flies and shrunk down to insect size so [she can] travel back in time with them to save the world from an evil spider.” You know, typical stuff.

Gay marriage debate comes to Maine Even as same-sex marriage supporters across the country reel from the Election Day approval of California's Proposition 8 — which changed that state's constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman — they are optimistic about bringing gay marriage to Maine, possibly in the upcoming legislative session.

Uh, race still matters, folks In a few short days Barack Obama will go from being our first black president-elect to our first black president. Yes siree, the black guy is finally going to be in charge. We finally did it. Welcome to post-racial America!

Interview: Ed Zwick On January 16, director Ed Zwick's Defiance storms theaters with its harrowing tale of the freedom-fighting Bielski brothers, who retreat to the forests of Belarus to protect an ever-growing brigade of Jewish refugees and wage relentless guerilla war against the Nazis.

FERRARO, A PHOTO, AND A LEGACY | March 30, 2011 Geraldine Ferraro's photograph stands proudly in a silver frame, inscribed to my daughter with the words, "You are my hero."

TWO MURDERS AND AN UNHEEDED CALL | December 29, 2010 When Rhode Islanders mention former Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Fay, they often focus on the scandal that forced him to resign from the bench.

THE DEATH OF IRISH-ITALIAN POLITICAL ENTITLEMENT | September 22, 2010 Angel Taveras may soon be Providence’s first Latino mayor. But his victory in the recent Democratic primary is much more than a triumph of the city’s growing Hispanic population.

RHODE ISLAND’S BIRTH CONTROL CONTRETEMPS | July 07, 2010 Recently OB-GYN Associates, a respected women's health care practice with offices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, admitted to Rhode Island Department of Health officials that it had implanted in patients birth control intrauterine devices (IUDs) apparently manufactured in Canada and not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

TURNING IN THAT LOW-NUMBERED PLATE FOR A PINK ONE | May 19, 2010 Low-numbered plates may be Valhalla for Rhode Island’s vainglorious. But they are hard to come by. So for the average driver looking for attention, “vanity” and “special category” plates are the way to go.